Marketers and some wayward Liberians are seriously creating pollution by using the entrance of the King Zolu Duma or Waterside Bridge over the Mesurado River in Monrovia as a dumpsite, including human feces thereby posing serious public health risk.
Those dumping waste at the side of the bridge are doing so in the presence of the Liberia National Police (LNP) and Monrovia City Police assigned at substation near the bridge.
The waste continue to pile up from below the bridge to its top, releasing offensive smell and polluting the air at the inconvenience of customers heading for the Waterside General Market to do business transactions.
A private waste management contractor working in one of the stores adjacent the bridge, Mr. Tommy Jackson blamed the situation on failure of the Monrovia City Corporation and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to intervene.
According to Jackson, what’s actually amazing is the fact that people would dump waste openly in the public or in prohibited places while those responsible to enforce city ordinances renege in taking action. The waterside bridge was re-constructed during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf after it collapsed.
He disclosed that while the waste is being dumped, there were also people selling close to the same environment who continue to battle with bad air pollution that could transmit disease to those selling in the area.
Jackson called on the Monrovia City Corporation and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move in swiftly to prevent further dumping of dirt before the bridge, as the practice is unhealthy for the country’s image.
He said if nothing were urgently done to address the situation the bridge would soon be overtaken by garbage. When both MCC and EPA workers in the Township of West Point were contacted on the matter, they refused to call their names, reserving comments.
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By Emmanuel Mondaye–Editing by Jonathan Browne
